The effect of bow stiffeners in nonrigid airships

It is now well known that all nonrigid airships constructed at the present time have bow stiffeners consisting of battens curved to the form of the envelope and designed to hold the nose of the ship in its true form despite the very large pressure which exists at the extreme forward point. The effect of the stiffeners is to reduce considerably the apparent pressure which has to be maintained inside the envelope in order to prevent the nose from caving in.